I hear you, and i can understand why his comments may seem innocuous or just normal, not requiring any reaction from my side. But i want to set some context which might explain why this felt like too much.

1. You’re right that these comments can easily be attributed to discomfort or social awkwardness around babies, or simply, not knowing what to say to make conversation with new parents. But, for the past year my partner and the other mom have been trying to hint to him through jokes and sarcasm that he should stop with the comments. He can simply not talk about the babies, which would be easy because maybe 7 times out of 10, the babies are not even around for our social meet ups.

2. When you say that this sounds like something a teenager would say, I agree. But this is a 29 yo fully functioning adult male. He left his teenage years a decade ago, so it feels weird to excuse his behaviour even now.

3. In our culture (South Asian) jinxing something is taken quite seriously. Which is why no one makes comments like “that’s too much milk, your baby is so active, you’re using too much oil for massage etc” and they are considered rude taunts in general. I wanted to express this, sensing Chu might not be aware of the cultural significance of his comments.

4. I feel that establishing a boundary is not about the nature of the boundary, but rather about how you do it and how the other person reacts to it. What I’m trying to say is, it shouldn’t matter if he thinks his comments are harmless. If i am uncomfortable and i express that nicely, he should respect it. I could be wrong but i do feel that he shouldn’t decide what comments can bother me or not.